Rotary envelop-sealing machine.



J, A. MARKOE.

ROTARY BNVELOP SEALING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 10, 1909.

Patented Apr. 15, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

@Mvuntoz III/lll L A, MARNE. ROTARY ENVELOP SBALNG MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 10, 1909.

m@ Patented Apr. 15,1913.

John A. Murkoe Clttoznu J. A, MARNE. ROTARY ENVBLOP SBALING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.10, 1909 Patented. A103". l5, MM.

3 SHEETS-STREET 3.

memtoz John A. Marko@ witwassen 'UNITED STATES PATENT AoEFIoE.

JOHN' A. MARKOE, 0F' ST. PAUL, IVIIETNIFJSOTA.v

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN A. MARKOE a citizen of the United States, residin at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and tate of Minnesota, have invented' new and useful Improvementsy in Rotary Envelop-Sealing Machines, of which the following is a specliication.

My invention relates particularly to rotary envelo machines of the type now commonly use for feeding envelops, and has for its chief object to improve the efficiency of this rotary machine. l

The particular machine which Il have improved is the machine forming thesubject matter of Letters Patent No. 820,427, granted May 15, 1906, and No. 891,277, granted June 23, 1908 to me. vThe machines described in these Letters Patent com rise in brief four mechanisms, to wit: the feeding mechanism, the moistening mechanism, the sealing mechanism, and the stackin mechanism.' Various improvements whic take the form of additions. for the lmost part to the above noted feed mechanism,l are made bythe present invention; These various improvements, and "the /increased etliciency resulting therefrom, will be apparent from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which,

Figure l is a central longitudinal section of my improved machine, Fig. 2 is awpla-n view with the front frame work of the machine and the follower with'the supporting rack removed.' Fig. 3 is a transverse, ver-A l tical section of the same. 4

Referring to the drawings 1 and2 are the main supporting members or side frames of the machine. These members are spaced apart by rods 3 located at convenient points and support the four mechanisms above mentioned. On one side of the upper part of this frame is supporteda bed 'or feed plate 4, which has an upper surface which is` straight and sloping upwardly at its outer end, as at 5, and curved downwardly at its inner end, as at 6. The purpose of this will presently appear. Immediately above and adjacent to this feed pla-te is a feed shaft 7 This shaft is equipped with two cylinders 8 spaced apart and located equidist-ant from the longitudinal center of the machine, as shown in Fig. 2. Dove-tailed into the surfaces of these cylinders are rubber strips 9, two being provided approximately 120 Specification of Letterslatent. `Al'nplicatiron tiled November 10, 1909.l SerialNo. 527,219.

' v.ROTARY ENVELOP-SEALING MACHINE'i i Patented Apr. 15, 1913.

apart on each cylinder. Preferably a section :of each cyllnder on a chord of the cylinder as at 10 is cut away in such a manner that this section when removed opens longitudinal grooves into which the rubber strips 9 are placed. Assoclated with and forming a part of this feeding mechanism is a rack made up of rods 11,/one end of whichl rests on the front of the-feed plate 4 and the other endof which is supported by a pedestal 12 rising from an extension 13 I'rom the main-v frame of the machine. Sliding on these rods is afollower member 14 whose position is determined by an adjustable slotted member 15 engaging one of the rods 11.

Above the feed plate shaft andy a little in advance of it is the moi'stening mechanism. This mechanism comprises a pair of rolls 16 and 17, the roll 16 being of rubberl and located somewhat below the roll 17 .which is of metal and has a smooth surface.

A water trough 18 is placed below the roller 16 in such a position thatthe roller 16 re-y volves with its lower side Iin the water, thus taking up the water and wetting the roller the form of a mouth piece which extends into an offset- 21 of the trough, the Water be ing thus confined to the tank by atmospheric pressure and automatically fed tothe trough as needed.

On the other side of .the machine to the rear of the feed mechanism and in a position to receive the envelops or packets therefrom, is the sealing'mechanis'm. This mechanism comprises in the main apair of rubber rollersv22 and 23 between which the moistened envelops received from the feeding mechanism are passed, bei-ng 4directed into these rollers b v guide members 24.

Immediately below the rollers 22 and 23 is the stacking mechanism comprising in the main a fixed guide plate 25, with the curved upper extremity 26 for directing envelops supported upon the longitudinal rods 26a. Also supported by the rods 26EL is a vfollower member 27 which slides on the rods and is guided thereby.

The vmachine as thus far described operates as follows: An electric motor mounted on the forward extension of the frame,

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drives t-he feed roller 22. The feed roller 7 withtheirgpiiaps extended n and lapping each, other areplaced upon the feed rack wit-h` their flaps in t-he position shown, with the tiapof the lfront envelo extending over the metallic feed roller` 1 .and the follower member 14 behind'it. A rod 28a is pivoted to theupper rod 3r and this is moved to the position shown whereit rests on the flaps,

and byr its weight holds themY down and lapped over the roller 17 in position where they can be most efeotually moistened The machine being started the p arts revolve in the" ,direction shown by the' arrows. *The flap of the front envelop is moistened by the roller 17 which is kept wet. by the roller 16,

land as the shaft 7 revolves, is'caught by the rubber frictionstrips 9 and drawn downward across the feed plate 4, each ap'being moistened completely to the tip as it is drawn in. It is then thrown upwardly against the members 24, when its flap end, which at this point is lowermost is caught -1 between the, rolls 22 and 23, and the envelop is passed between them, theflap being sealed as it passes through. It is delivered to the stacking means below the rolls, t-he follower member 27 being forced away from the plate 25 as the envelops are successively sealed.

and thus only one of them will be sealed. lA friction device in the shape of a strip of' these machines.

The operation as just described is Iessen-l tially that of my prior machines. I have found however that in several ways the operation is not all that could be desired with In the first place I have found that at times when the very last envelops of the 'stack are about to have their flaps moistened, or when the iap and envelop happen to be down'instead of up, the envelop is sometimes drawn` in between the moistening rollers 16 and 17. In the present machine I prevent this by providing a project-ion 28 in front of the trough 18 which extends beneath the roller 17 and forms a transverse shoulder across the trough 18, prevent-ing the flap of the envelop from bending up beneath the moistening roller 17 and engaging against the upwardly moving part of the same.

When a packet composed of an venvelop and its contents is relatively thin, it sometimes happens that two packets will be drawn into the machine at the same time,

rubber 29 let into the face of the bed plate at its center effectually avoids this trouble. The rubber strip projects a slight distance lbeyond the face of the feed plate and engages the second envelop at its bottom edge,

thus making the friction against movement greater than the friction tending to cause movement and existing between the smooth face of the two adjacent packets. As an additional safe-guard against this trouble, which is especlally, likely to occur when all but two of the envelops have been sealed, I provide friction devices on' the face of the follower member 14. This is also a strip of rubber, which is shown at 30, and is of substantially greater proportions than the strip 29 in the center of the feed plate 4.

Not alittle annoyance in prior machines, not only of my own make, but in other machines I have known, has been caused by a clogging of the machine due to too slow a removal of the packets a-fter the flaps of the packets have been moistened. There is no reason why they should not be rapidly removed. i I accomplish this in the present machine in two ways. First I provide a delivery shaft or member operating in conjunction with the sealing rolls. This is shown at 31 as a shaft provided with two knurled disks 32 bearing on the-near sealing roller 23. The knurled disks and the roller 23 catch the packets as they are thrown forward by the feed shaft 7 carrying rubber strips 9, and move them positively into engagement with the member 24 and into position to be caught by the sealing rollers 22 and 23. By using this delivery shaft 31, I avoid sharp bending of the packets at this point, the packet following almost the .same straight line as directed by the bed plate. In addition to this y positive means which removes the moistened packets I drive the shaft 31 and the sealing rollers at a materially higher speed than the feed shaft 7. Thisspeed I prefer to make 50% higher than the speed of the feed shaft 7. I find that this results in a rapid removal of the packets, and efectually prevents clogging of the machine.

By the construction of the feed member or shaft 7 as already mentioned, with the particular angular spacing of the rubber friction strips 9, I cause the packets to lbel drawn in one at a time, there being an appreciable distance between successive packets owing to the 240 spacing between adjacent strips, the strips on either side closest to each other being 120O apart, and both engaging a packet at the same time. This arrangement of the feed shaft always `assures the smooth regular operation of the maohlne.

In many machines use is made of fixed or spring pressed members 24 for reversing the envelop and presenting its Hap end to t-he sealing rolls. These members in such cases have to be adjusted. and unless adjusted are likely to cause clogging when an envelop of larger size thanthat for which the machine is adjusted, is used. I make this adjustment automatic by pivoting the members 24 to the rod 3 in the upper partxof the'frame, and passing their ends freely through holes 33 in guide lugs 34 on the rod 3 to the rear of the sealing rollers. The members 24 which are light. being made of bent wire, are easily raised by the thinest packets, thus reversing the direction of the packet without bending or crumpling it in any manner. The strips or rubber tubes 34 on the members Q4 at the lugs 34 serve as buffers and prevent rattling of the members during rapid operation.

Lastly I have found that the stacker mechanism as described above consist-ing of the end guide plate Q5 and a follower, as 27, does not always stack the envelop smoothly, certain of the packets projecting beyond and above others, and sometimes being disarranged in such a manner as to interrupt the stacking operation altogether. I improve the efficiency of this mechanism by the use of two stacker shafts provided with starwheels. The star-wheels of the uppermost of these shafts 35 act as shakers, the shaftbeing a shaker shaft, while the starwheels of the lower shaft 3G are provided with rubber friction bands 3T for engaging the surface of the packet and forcing it down upon the base frame rods 9.6. I find t-hat a uniform stack is made by this mechanism, and that it operates continuously without fault of any kind. Each packet is discharged from the sealing rolls between the guide plate 25 and the. preceding packet, and it is rapidly carried to its place by the starwheels of the lower shaft, the star-wheels of the upper shaft working the packet down by its shaking action. I findit advantageous to run the shafts 35 and 3G at a. speed still higher than that of the sealing rolls. A packet is thus handled at successively increasing speeds as it passes through the machine thus keeping all mechanisms clear.

My machine as thus constructed performs all its functions in a most efficient manner. Its parts are well proportioned, very simple, and very durable. In addition, the machine is not over expensive to construct, the most expensive part of the machine being the rubber sealing rolls. I have found a method of decreasing the cost of these rolls so as to make them comparatively inexpensive. Owing to the fact that such rolls must have a high co-efficient friction with the packet in order to firmly hold it and keep it forward during the sealing operation, they have heretofore been made of a very high grade o-f rubber. This high grade is not at all necessary in order to give the rollers the proper elasticity and flexibility to effect a good sealing. I have found if I make my sealing rolls of an inferior grade of rubber, such as above mentioned, and which is elas tic enough to give the proper sealing, and provide one or more bands of rubber of a superior grade on the surface of the rolls, the operation is quite as efficient as it is when the entire roll is made of a superior grade.k I have shown these bands at 38 and 39, and as shown, they project a. trifle above the surface of the rolls, as I prefer to have them, thoughy this is not necessary. I also show bands on the sealing roll 23 in staggered relation to the bands 38 and 39 on the roller 22.

It is to be observed that I have used rods Wherever possible in the frame of the machine, so constructing the main frame and extension supporting the motor that a base frame of rods 4l may be used to connect `them together. This construction of rods is at once cheap, light and neat in appearance'.

While I have described the best form of my invent-ion now known to me, many modifications may be made in the improvements embodied therein without departing from the spirit of the invention. I desire to cover all such modifications by the claims annexed hereto.

What I claim is:

l. In a machine of the character described, a frame, a feed plate arranged in the frame and having an upwardly sloping outer end and a downwardly curved inner end, a friction strip carried upon the feed plate at its middle portion and projecting slightly beyond the surface thereof, a follower arranged for movement over the upper face of the feed plate and adapted to carry packets thereover, and a relatively large friction strip secured to the inner face o-f the follower for coperation with said first friction strip to separate the packets.

2. In a machine of the class described. a frame, a guideway in the frame, a feed plate disposed at the lower end of the guideway, 105 a follower slidable upon the guideway, and an adjusting plate slidable on the guideway. and having connection with the outer side of the follower to hold the upper end thereof at the desired angle.

3. In a machine of the character described, a feed plate having an upwardly sloping outer end and a downwardly curved inner end, said inner curved end being adapted to deflect the lower ends of packets 115 at a downward angle from the feed plate,

a follower coperating with the feed plate and adapted to move by gravity over the upwardly sloping end of the feed plate, and guiding means adjustably mounted on the 120 follower adapted to guide the-same in its movement and hold the follower at the desired angle.

4. A machine of the class described comprising a frame, a substantially horizontal 125 feed plate in the frame, an inclined guideway sloping upwardly and forwardly from the feed plate, a follower on the guideway adapted to support a number of packets upon the feed plate, a feed roller arranged 13g above the plate,` and a pair of slightly spaced friction strips located in the periphery and at one side of the feed roller for engagement with the adjacent packet to feed.

the same over the feed plate upon each revolution of the roller.

5. A machine of the class described, comprising a frame, a substantially horizontal feed plate inthe frame, an inclined guideabove the plate, and spaced friction members located i1; the periphery and at one side of the feed roller for engagement with the adjacent packet to feed the same over the feed plate upon each revolution of the roller.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set 1' i my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN A. MARKOII. Witnesses:

CHAs. S. HOFF, F. A. PIKE. 

